Writers’ Workshop graduate and New York Times bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming Xochitl Gonzalez will read from her new novel, Anita de Monte Laughs Last. She will be joined in conversation by author Kevin Brockmeier. Anita de Monte Laughs Last has been called by LitHub, “a dynamic exploration of love, art, and power,” and has been called “incandescent” by Publisher’s Weekly.  “Funny, piercing, and full of moxie, Anita de Monte Laughs Last is unsparing in its assessment of what goes on behind the castle walls, the price people pay to be accepted into those hallowed halls, and what it takes to liberate oneself from the dangers that lurk within. Really, what Xochitl Gonzalez has written is an affirmation for anyone who’s ever had to ‘work twice as hard to get half as much.’ Anita de Monte Laughs Last is rollicking, melodic, tender, and true. And oh so very wise.” –Robert Jones, Jr

Xochitl Gonzalez’s first book,  Olga Dies Dreaming, was named a Best of 2022 by The New York Times, TIME, Kirkus, Washington Post, and NPR, and was the winner of the Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize in Fiction and the New York City Book Award. Gonzalez’s nonfiction work has been published in Elle Decor, Allure, Vogue, Real Simple, and The Cut. Her commentary writing for The Atlantic was recognized as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. A native Brooklynite and proud public school graduate, Gonzalez holds a BA from Brown University and an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.  She now lives in her hometown of Brooklyn with her dog, Hectah Lavoe.

Kevin Brockmeier is the author of the memoir A Few Seconds of Radiant Filmstrip; the novels The Illumination, The Brief History of the Dead, and The Truth About Celia; the story collections The Ghost Variations, Things That Fall from the Sky and The View from the Seventh Layer; and the children’s novels City of Names and Grooves: A Kind of Mystery. His work has been translated into seventeen languages. He teaches frequently at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and lives in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he was raised.